§ Brian CotterTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from(a) banks and (b) retailers on conversion to microchip and PIN technology for point of sale payment transactions. [99113]
§ Mr. DenhamI met representatives of the Association of Payment and Clearing Services (APACS) on 12 July 2001 and 31 January 2002 to discuss the implementation
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§ Mr. Bob AinsworthThe table shows the prison population in England and Wales under sentence and remand for drug offences1.
of this technology. Since then I have received regular joint progress reports from APACS and the British Retail Consortium (BRC), as well as from the implementation programme managers.
The Chief Executive of APACS wrote to me in February and again in October last year to express concern about the possible outcome of an Office of Fair Trading investigation into Mastercard interchange fees. He advised me that a ruling that these fees were uncompetitive would put the implementation of Chip and PIN at risk.
The programme managers, together with representatives from APACS and the BRC, had a further meeting with Home Office officials on 21 January this year, when they advised that the programme was going well and was on target for implementation in late 2004.